We are currently working with a client who has just tendered for a major procurement project (over £18m contract value)

My question is this… When you ask a team of stakeholders who want to be part of the core evaluation team for the tender responses, what difference does the supplier’s company name make?

The reason that I ask this is that one of the evaluators, reviewed one supplier bid, and commented on the fact that she felt that they “were clearly in the right marketplace” as they had a company brand name which reflected the goods which we were buying for the tender.

This provoked some debate about supplier names, and I had to be quite masterful and advise them that any company regardless of their name, so a made up example of “AB giraffe company” was able to tender for the services, and as long as they answered the questions and more importantly demonstrated without doubt their capabilities, experience and offer to us as an evaluation team, then they might just end up the winning supplier.

The perception around the table took some convincing, (45 minutes of debate) but eventually we did conclude as a team that although some companies clearly demonstrate in their company brand and name what they do, it’s not an essential. In fact if you think about the major companies on a global and national scale (Amazon / Apple / Curry’s / Starbucks / Dulux / Shell) none of these actually reflect their name in their actual goods and services.

That said, in terms of public perception, it may be easier to diversify if you aren’t specifically linked to a “set” of goods or services, just remember to get your answers correct on the tender, and it won’t matter!